Choosing a Drone Wildlife Survey Provider: What to Consider

The relatively low cost of drones compared to helicopters is both a blessing and a curse for landowners. The positive is that they can survey their property at a lower cost than ever before without worrying about minimums. Unfortunately, the negative side of this is that there used to be a significant barrier of entry for someone wanting to get into the business of aerial surveying. Now, almost anyone can buy a drone with only minimum upfront investment and start advertising wildlife surveys. While more operators may seem like a great thing for landowners in driving down the price of a survey even further, the truth is most of these operators have no previous experience and are unable to provide you with usable population data. 

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Can I Just Buy a Drone and Fly It Myself?

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Nothing is necessarily stopping you from doing this. If you’re willing to take the time to study and pass tests to get all of the necessary licenses and permits, you can legally fly your own property. But, if you were given a particle accelerator, would you be able to just create a new element with no experience? Obviously, drone surveys are not as complicated as particle physics, but this is to say it’s significantly more complicated than just putting a drone up in the air and flying it around. Drones, especially the ones we use, are expensive - don’t waste your money for useless counts. 

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What Should I Look For When Researching Operators?

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When searching around for a company or individual to provide a drone wildlife survey, make sure that they possess both the FAA Part 107 license as well the Texas Parks & Wildlife Aerial Wildlife Management (AWM) permit. Without these licenses, it is illegal to conduct drone surveys on Texas properties and you the landowner could also be held liable. 

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However, it is important to note that simply possessing the Part 107 license and AWM permit DOES NOT mean that an individual or company is qualified to conduct a wildlife survey on your property. These simply give the operator the legal ability to fly. No part of the Part 107 license nor AWM permit applications require the operator to prove they possess the experience, equipment, or methodology required to collect accurate animal population data. 

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So, don’t limit your research of a company or individual to their licenses. It is important to dig deeper and look into how long they have been performing game surveys, their familiarity with Texas wildlife, the equipment they use, and, most importantly, what previous clients have to say about their experience. The low cost of entry to drones means that any Joe Shmoe can try to make a quick buck offering these surveys. If you want the job done right, it’s important to go with an established company like Sky Senderos for your surveying needs. 

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Why Should I Choose Sky Senderos for My Drone Survey?

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With over 250 surveys conducted across the entire state, Sky Senderos is the largest provider of drone wildlife census counts in Texas. Simply put, this extensive experience has allowed us to continually refine our process and methodology in order to achieve the most accurate results possible. Much of the drone wildlife survey process occurs before and after the flight itself, so it’s important you choose a company that knows what it’s doing. Even with the best drone equipment, a poorly planned flight or review can leave you with useless data.

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Experience

Drawing from a long list of happy clients, we can often provide references from properties only a few miles down the road from your own. Additionally, the data from these previous surveys gives us the ability to provide accurate estimates on the percentage of your total population that we were able to identify due to weather, flight, and property characteristics.

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Technology Investment

Sky Senderos’ large size also allows us to constantly invest in the best technology available. Our drones and thermal cameras are industry-leading when it comes to battery life and clarity. Our technological investment does not stop there, though. We’ve also poured significant resources into an AI computer vision model that is trained on hundreds of hours of previous survey footage to help our reviewers and eliminate human error. Our proprietary method for pre-planning flight routes ensures that 100% of your property gets covered.

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Relationships & Legitimacy

Finally, Sky Senderos has made a concerted effort to form relationships with the individuals and departments that you may need to provide your drone survey results to. If you are part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Managed Lands Deer (MLD) Program, there is a good chance your biologist is already familiar with Sky Senderos. If you need to submit a wildlife management report to your county appraisal district to qualify for the 1-D-1 wildlife exemption, they’ve probably already seen one with a Sky Senderos final report attached. Working with an established company like Sky Senderos brings legitimacy to your survey results and ensures your goal in conducting a census count will be realized. 

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Ready to gain more accurate, actionable data about your wildlife populations? Click here to request your free quote today!

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